Kim Jongin, Kai to all who knew him, lived next to Lee Ara for twelve years. He was six when he saw the moving trucks pull up in the driveway next door. At first he was curious, his friend Sehun had lived there as long as Kai could remember and he wanted to know what new kid would take his friend's place.

He hadn't expected Lee Ara. She was not younger than Kai and as soon as the two met he knew she was special. Neither in a good way nor a bad, Ara was just different.

He had spotted her first as he watched the movers unload the truck he spotted the girl run out of the house, a smile plastered on her face. Kai remembered thinking the girl was pretty with her hair tied back with a white ribbon. His mother had asked him to greet her, be courteous, so he had approached her.

"Hello." He spoke softly stepping in front of the girl, even then he was taller than her and she had to look up to see him. "I'm your neighbour, Kim Jongin."

Ara's eyes lit up and she grabbed his wrist dragging her into the house.

"Eomma," Ara called, pulling Kai towards her mother.

"Ara, whose this now?" She looked at the boy her daughter had dragged to her and smiled apologetically.

"This is the boy I'm going to marry." Her tone was dead serious, and the young boy looked to her shocked by the sudden statement. He had just introduced himself, was this girl crazy?

"Ara you can't just decide that by yourself." Her mother chuckled softly ruffling the girl’s hair.

Ara and Kai despite their differences became close over the years. Her initial feelings for Kai as a child never did go away when they became teenagers. It had grown stronger into much more than just a childhood crush.

They spent the most time together at Ara's house. The two would study together after school, her mother would make snacks, she would procrastinate until the last hour and Kai would complain about the girl being a unwarranted distraction.

Ara gazed at the boy as he worked on his math's homework, she noted how he bit the end of his pencil as he thought, the small grin that spread across his face as he realised the answer. Everything he did was attractive to Ara.

"Stop staring." Kai spoke his eyes not leaving his page.

"Why?"

"It's creepy. I'm trying to work." Ara didn't heed his words as she continued to stare at him in silence for a few moments.

"Lets date." She broke the silence, a smile playing on her lips.

Kai scoffed at Ara's straightforwardness, did she have no pride. This wasn't the first time she had asked that question and he always had the same answer.

"Aniyo."

"Why not?" Ara pouted, her deepset eyes locking onto his, "don't you like me?"

"Aniyo." He repeated looking away and continuing with his work. Why was this girl so persistent? His work was interrupted as her soft lips pressed into his cheek, lingering for merely a moment before they pulled away.

"You're blushing Kai." She smiled before turning away to do her own study.

"Yah!" She smirked at his outburst but continued to feign disinterest as she stared at the unanswered questions on her page.

 

It wasn’t until high school was ending that Kai ever considered that Ara wouldn’t be by his side forever.

Kai was walking home with Ara, as the two always did after school, his bag on one shoulder and hers on the other. Without her usual rambling, the walk was unusually silent and Kai was slightly annoyed the strange mood.

“Will you find someone else if I leave?” Ara broke the silence, Kai looked to her and sighed, he hadn’t thought about their future much but he knew they had been accepted into different universities.

“Is that why you’re so sad today?” She nodded, her eyes refusing to meet his.

“Seriously Ara. You can’t always be by my side.” He regretted saying what he did as soon as he saw her eyes tear up. “Ahh… Ara, mianhe.”

“No, you’re right.” She spoke wiping the tears away from her eyes and plastering her usual smile on her face.
"I will still love you, Kim Jongin" Ara yelled into the air running in front of him. Kai chuckled at the girl's confession yet he knew she was trying to mask her true feeling of anxiousness.

“Aish Ara,” Kai smiled, “stop saying things like that.”

“Why?” She turned around and smiled genuinely at him, “I know you love me too.”

“Aniyo.”

In all the years Kai had known Ara, he had showed an indifference that was reserved only for her. And no matter how much he pretended he didn't care, here he was, waiting for her. Looking to the door, he sighed he didn't want her to walk through those large white doors, if she did it meant it was over. As if everything was going against him, the doors opened and the piano music filled the room. 

She walked in, her eyes scanned the room and met with his. Letting out a large grin, she resisted the urge to wave. He was here, he considered them friends enough to actually come. Kai's heart skipped a beat at her smile, she was beautiful as always.

His heart fell as she looked away, her eyes now in front of her, at him. Kai hated him, he was too kind, too selfless and too perfect. More than that he hated him because he had accepted her when Kai was too stupid not to.

Now all he could see was her retreated figure, the silk white dress dragging along the ground as she walked towards him. He saw the boy he hated so much smile as his bride walked towards him.

She had given Kai a chance, she loved him for so long and he had known it. Back then he remembered telling her to stop loving him and move on, but seeing Ara now he didn't believe his own words. He realised why he had kept her so close. Always rejecting her but never pushing her too far she wouldn't come back to him.

He loved her and had thought she would always love him too. Obviously he had been wrong, about so many things.


A/N: I'm sorry I couldn't make it a happy ending. I don't know why, this was what came to mind. I said this is a story about unrequited love but I'm sorry if it was a bit confusing.
Anyways I hope you enjoyed the short oneshot, I've sort of been annoyed at my writing recently so please do leave feedback.
Feel free to comment and subscribe. Thankyou again for reading.
>_<  ahh so many assignments